Property Information Resource Center, Harvard Real Estate Services
| Alternate Names: |
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| Harvard Real Estate Services |
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| Phone Numbers: |
| (617) 496-1862 |
| fax | (617) 495-0463 |
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| Email Addresses: |
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| Address: | Property Information Resource Center
Harvard Real Estate Services
1350 Massachusetts Ave.
Room 1016 (Mailing Address Rm. 1000)
Cambridge, MA 02138 |
| Access Policy: |
| Open to qualified researchers. |
| Open by appointment. |
| Project engineers, architects, and project managers working on Harvard University projects must have a valid 33-digit account code.
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| Extent of Collections: | Approximately 90,000 items |
| Dates: | 1840-present |
| Holdings Description: | The Property Information Resource Center seeks to document the history of Harvard University's buildings and land. Forming the core of the collections are more than 70,000 architectural and technical drawings of Harvard's buildings. The majority of the drawings are on traditional supports as linen, vellum, paper, and Mylar (TM). However, a growing portion of the collection are available electronically, primarily as CAD files. New drawings are acquired via the Capital Appropriation Project System (CAPS), including new construction and renovation projects. CAPS projects cannot be closed without submitting as-built drawings to the PIRC, including Mylar (TM), CAD files, and copies on aperture cards.
Most are as-built or record drawings for construction projects within the last 100 years of Harvard's history. In addition, some older drawings, the oldest dating from 1840, as well as some design development and schematic design drawings are available. While not comprehensive, the collection covers almost every building on Harvard's campus to some extent, either in the form of original construction documentation or drawings for renovations and additions or both. Hard-copy drawings are stored off-site; there is a twenty-four hour turnaround for viewing. Reprographics are an additional twenty-four hour turnaround.
The PIRC also maintains smaller supporting collections of planning records, surveys, maps, books and visual materials, and deeds of Harvard-owned properties. |
| History: | The Property Information Resource Center (PIRC) was established shortly after the founding of the Harvard University Planning Office in 1956 as a departmental library for the collection of surveys, planning studies, and office records. As the need for a central repository for architectural drawings and information regarding Harvard's built environment became more apparent, the library's role was expanded to include the collection of these materials. In the late 1960's, the library staff identified several existing collections of drawings throughout Harvard's campus, the major repositories being at Widener Library and the Department of Buildings and Grounds, and began to plan for their consolidation.
A major step in this effort was accomplished when the Planning Office was charged with programming a proposed building for the Harvard University archives, Pusey Library. Included in the program was a safe storage area for the Widener Library architectural drawings collection. When Pusey Library opened in 1973, these drawings, primarily original construction documents and as-builts for several of Harvard's buildings, as well as a small number of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott campus master plans which the firm had given to Harvard, were transferred into the new archives building. Soon after, the Planning Office became responsible for the care and maintenance of these drawings.
In the 1980's the Planning Office library continued the process of consolidating the University's architectural plans and drawings. With capital funds provided by Harvard University, a team surveyed drawings on campus in several locations, including the Department of Buildings and Grounds, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, and the Chilled Water Plant. Duplicates were discarded and the remaining drawings were integrated into the architectural drawings collection stored in Pusey Library.
Following the 1995 merger of the Harvard Planning Group and Harvard Real Estate into Harvard Planning and Real Estate, the library's name was changed to the Property Information Resource Center. The PIRC's collections have continued to grow over the last two decades and now include more than 65,000 drawings. New drawings are acquired continually as the university's buildings are renovated and new ones constructed. |
| Printed Guides & Catalogs: | Inventories available for use in the Library only. |
| Contact for permission to publish requests: | Manager, PIRC |
| Reproduction services: |
| Photocopying by staff only. |
| Printing from microfilm. |
| Photographic reproduction services. |
| Reprographic services for oversized plans and drawings, pending the condition of the original.
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| Items allowed in Reading Room: |
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Please address comments and updates to archinfo@hulmail.harvard.edu.
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